Lincoln Park Zoo staff are seeing stripes after welcoming the newest addition to Chicago's animal kingdom.
Early Thursday, five-year-old Grevy's zebra Adia gave birth to a male foal, her second offspring with six-year-old male Grevy's zebra Clayton, according to a release. Grevy's zebras have particularly long gestational periods, so animal care staffers have been awaiting the foal's arrival for more than a year.
“This little colt is all legs and is glued to mom’s side,” General Curator Dave Bernier said in a prepared statement. “Right now he has characteristic brown stripes that will get darker as he grows up, eventually turning black to match the rest of our herd."
The zoo is inviting visitors to help name the foal. Through 11:59 p.m. Thursday, votes for any of the four proposed Swahili names will be accepted on the zoo's website, and on Friday, Aug. 31, zoo staff says they'll announce the winning moniker on their Facebook page. The choices are Hanisi, which means "born on Thursday," Akili, which means "clever," Kito, which means "jewel," and Daktari, which means "doctor" or "healer."
Grevy's zebras are endangered, and the new foal and his two-year-old brother Enzi were bred by the Grevy's zebra Species Survival Plan, according to a release from the zoo.
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